Worth the wait

I saw and tasted my first persimmon when our Master Gardener class took a tour of Auburn's experimental station in Jemison 10 years ago.  The fruit tasted like nothing I had ever experienced before. 

When I went hunting for them in the grocery store, I discovered them in a small basket in the exotic produce section, for $1.00 each.  This was not going to work for my frugal soul so the next logical step was to grow my own.  Persimmon trees were not available at the local big box store.  The first nursery I searched had a potted tree for (drum roll sound) $80.  I was seriously disappointed but not defeated.

At the time, Cedar Creek Nursery was just a new start-up but the folks there were (and still are) willing to help.  They had a source for persimmon trees for $25 but there were none available at the time.  I waited for six months but finally the call came, there was a shipment of persimmon trees for me to choose from!  I chose the perfect little tree, brought it home and lovingly planted it using all the good techniques for tree-planting that I learned in my Master Gardener classes.

I was told that it would take just three years for my Fuyu persimmon to begin bearing fruit.  When three years passed, I began looking for persimmons--no joy that year, or for the four years after that.  I began to wonder if I had purchased the one dud in the crop. 

This spring, after the worse drought in my lifetime, the persimmon tree decided it was time.  All summer, I watched and waited while the persimmons grew.  When the first two ripened in late September I was crushed to discover that the birds had been waiting too.  How did they know how wonderful persimmons taste?

I learned that persimmons can be picked a little early and allowed to ripen indoors.  This works but it takes days longer to ripen than if they were on the tree (but I don't have to share with those pesky birds).

I wish I could tell you exactly what a persimmon tastes like.  It has the texture of an apple, and the color of a ripe peach but the flavor is uniquely its own.  Now that I will have a tree full of persimmons each year, I will have to discover creative ways to incorporate them into my diet. 

For now, they are just amazingly delicious!  They are worth the wait.